


Intimate Recon

by UPDM



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Genre: Catra is a tease, F/F, Mild Smut, Post-Canon, Sorry Not Sorry, my favorite disaster lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-29 14:45:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16746007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UPDM/pseuds/UPDM
Summary: Catra decides to spy on Adora in Bright Moon so she can steal She-Ra's sword. It doesn't go quite as planned.





	1. From the Treetops

Quietly, and with a grace she had once been proud of, Catra propelled herself up the tallest tree she could find. Careful, that was the thing. She had to be careful. Leaving too many marks would mean she couldn’t come back tomorrow, and this was a good tree. If anybody saw fresh claw marks in the morning there would be guards searching the Whispering Woods by noon.

When she judged she was high enough, she stopped and crept out on a branch until it began to creak and bend. No further, then. A broken branch would attract more attention than claw marks.

And there it was. The castle of Bright Moon. Or rather, one wall of it, with all the windows clearly visible.

She crouched down, hands set between her feet and grasping the branch.

And she waited.

Her eyes flicked back and forth, tracking small movements from each window. There was the sparkly girl, and over there was the archer, but those two were of no concern to her.

There she was, just stepping into view.

Adora.

She was… herself. Not the big one, not She-Ra.

Adora was wearing her Horde uniform, and as Catra watched she began working through a familiar set of exercises. It was difficult not to join in, seeing her like that. Catra took a deep breath and focused on maintaining her grip.

Some things never change. Adora would probably be doing those exercises every night for the rest of time.

How many times had they done them together? It was just some basic stuff, push-ups and such, but neither of them had liked doing it alone. After all, it was easier to do sit-ups with somebody holding your feet down, right?

“I’ll spot you,” Catra murmured, and then twitched slightly at the sound of her own voice.

Adora stopped and looked out the window.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Catra wanted to be spotted. To have Adora chase her through the woods, shouting her name. It would be almost like a game. Almost like before.

But no, that wasn’t an option. She tensed her body, holding as still as possible, until Adora turned away from the window.

Catra should have expected what happened next. It was something most people did before bed, after all, but she was still surprised when Adora began to strip out of her clothes. She averted her eyes. Wasn’t that foolish? Hadn’t she seen Adora getting ready for bed before? Hadn’t she seen her in the showers? And yet this was different. Intimate.This wasn’t a barracks, and they weren’t bunkmates.

The light went out in Adora’s room.

“I’ll find out where you keep the sword...” Catra muttered, “tomorrow.”

But the next night was the same. And the next.

She could see Adora walking into the room with the sword, but each night it was taken out of her line of sight before being left somewhere. She would have to get closer. The problem with getting closer was that she was at the edge of the tree line already.

On the fourth night she climbed her tree, but instead of walking just far enough out on a branch to get a good view, she set her feet one in front of the other and slowly paced out until she was near the end. The branch groaned under her weight, near the point of snapping.

Dark waters swirled below. Was the water deep enough here? Daylight recon would have been useful, but there was no way to get this close to the castle when the sun was out. The Whispering Woods were still dumping meltwater into the river, so it was certainly deeper than it had been during the battle. Was it worth the risk?

The branch snapped, the sound a thunderclap in the silence of the night, and Catra plunged toward the icy water.


	2. Up the Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After her tumble into the river, Catra attempts to scale the walls of Bright Moon.

Some primal instinct took over. Shove the broken branch away. The water isn’t deep enough. Right yourself. Spread your limbs. Spread the impact.

Catra crashed into the shallow water. First she felt the heavy, stinging impact and then a secondary crack as her knee hit a submerged rock. She didn’t cry out,  _ couldn’t  _ cry out, as her head was still underwater. She suppressed the urge to flail about and right herself, and instead sought out the rock she had just smashed her knee on. She grabbed it, and pulled herself over to it.

Finally, slowly, she raised her head from the water. Nobody was raising the alarm. Nobody had seen her. Nobody knew how stupid she looked just now. Good.

Her knee wasn’t shattered, just bruised. She could continue her mission.

Standing up wasn’t an option, not without cover, not this close to the castle. She would have to swim. And so she did, quietly paddling her way across the river. By the time she reached the other side she could feel the cold seeping into her bones.

So this was a bad plan, but what else could she do now?

Time to climb. The bruised knee would be an issue, but she could deal with that,  _ had dealt _ with worse than that. She stared at the sheer stone walls of the castle, took a deep breath, and extended her claws.

“Stupid princesses,” Catra grunted, some time later. “With their stupid castles. With their walls that are too hard to climb.”

She was almost there. She could see Adora soon- No, that wasn’t right. She could see where Adora kept the sword soon, and then she could take it. And then what? Climb back down the same way with the sword? No. She would have to settle for finding it this time, she wouldn’t be able to take it.

So she could come back when her knee healed up, and that would be another chance to see- No. Don’t think about her right now.

She reached the edge of Adora’s window. Or at least, she hoped it was Adora’s window. The light was on in the room, so Adora would have trouble seeing out. Catra was about to peek over the sill when the window opened.

Adora leaned against the sill and stared out into the night. Catra tried not to breathe.

And then her grip slipped, claws scraping on stone.

“Catra!” Adora shouted, and sprung away from the window. Catra scrabbled against the stonework, desperately trying to find some crevice for her claws to sink into, but it was too late. She felt herself falling away from the wall-

And Adora’s hand shot downward, grasping her wrist.

“This again?” Catra asked, trying to sound bored.

“Yeah,” Adora replied. “This again.”


	3. Getting Warmer

Blankets. The Horde really didn’t have enough blankets. And pillows. Catra had never been this comfortable in her life, even with her bruised knee and wet fur. She had built a sort of nest out of almost every soft thing in the room.

“Alright,” Adora said, tossing Catra the last of the pillows. “Why are you here?”

“Does it matter?” Catra asked, hugging the pillow against her chest. It smelled like Adora.

“Of course it matters!” Adora shouted. She seemed to realize shouting was a bad idea, and continued in a whisper, with her arms crossed. “I should have just called the guards! If anybody finds out I let a Horde Force Captain into the castle I’ll get in trouble!”

Catra sprawled out and purred, “Funny, you never seemed to mind getting in trouble with me before.” Adora threw her arms up in frustration.

“That’s not- I’m- You shouldn’t be here, okay?”

Catra rolled over onto her belly and replied, “But I am here, so what are you going to do about it?” She raised an eyebrow and twitched her tail.

Adora’s face was starting to get red. Catra’s lips turned up in a crooked smile. So Adora felt the same way, huh? This was going to be fun.

“Fine,” Adora said, turning away. “You can sleep here tonight, but if you’re still here at dawn I’m calling the guards.”

“I’m awfully cold,” Catra purred. “Any chance you know a way to warm me up?”

Adora looked back over her shoulder and sighed. “None of that,” she said. “You can run yourself a hot bath or something.” Catra pushed herself to her feet and walked over behind Adora.

“Care to show me where the bath is?” she asked, letting her tail brush against Adora’s legs. Adora visibly trembled at the light sensation. This really was too easy.

Adora raised one arm and pointed across the room. “Over there.”

“Thanks, Adora,” Catra purred, drawing out each syllable of her name. As she walked away she trailed her claws lightly across Adora’s shoulders.

Time to focus up. Adora was too flustered to look directly at her. There wouldn’t be any better opportunity to really look around the room. Drawers and cabinets? Still an issue. Adora wouldn’t want her poking around that much. Just a quick visual inspection. Maybe the sword was in plain sight? Maybe- Oh.

The bath tub was just sitting, exposed, in the bedroom.

Awesome.

Catra cast a quick glance over her shoulder. Adora was sitting on the bed, doing her best to watch Catra without being obvious about it. Alright, time to get her _really_ flustered. Catra leaned over slowly to turn on the water, shifting her hips slightly more than necessary as she reached for each knob. When she looked back over her shoulder she caught Adora staring, and raised one eyebrow.

Adora turned her face away.

Gotcha.

Catra began to peel her shirt off, then stopped halfway.

“Hey, Adora,” she said. Adora looked over and her eyes grew wide.

“Wh- Uh- What is it?”

“Could I get some privacy?”

“Right!” Adora said, shooting to her feet. “Sure. Of course. I’ll just, uh- I’ll step out for a minute.” She walked over to the door, then stopped and said, “I’ll just knock when I’m about to come back in, okay?”

“Thanks, Adora,” Catra said, drawing out her name once again.

The moment the door shut, Catra whipped her shirt off and tossed it aside. Less than a minute to look around, but that might be enough. She flung open the nearest set of cabinets, then some drawers, then Adora’s wardrobe. Nothing. She closed everything as quickly as she dared, trying not to make a sound. There was a knock at the door. Shoot. Pants. Still wearing pants. She struggled as fast as she could out of her pants and was just starting to lower herself into the tub when the door opened, giving Adora a full, unobstructed view of her body.

They both froze, eyes locked together.

Catra moved first, lowering herself fully into the hot water.

Adora continued to stare, her cheeks turning bright red.

“Ooh, that’s good,” Catra purred, leaning back.

Adora stepped into the room and shut the door quickly.

“Something wrong?” Catra asked.

“Nothing,” Adora replied, just a little too quickly. She walked over to the bed and sat down, struggling to keep her head turned firmly away from Catra.

Too easy.


	4. Not Quite Like Old Times

Catra’s clothes were still wet. Putting on cold, wet clothes would defeat the purpose of a hot bath. Instead, Catra simply wrapped herself in a towel and called it good, and counted on Adora being too embarrassed to suggest anything else.

It seemed to be working.

“Aren’t you going to work out?” Catra asked, lounging once more among the pillows and blankets. Adora was standing by the window, staring out.

“Hm?” she replied.

“You do it every night,” Catra said. “The old routine.”

“How did you-” Adora began.

“Just like we used to,” Catra muttered, almost too quietly for Adora to hear. There was a sadness there that Catra hadn’t intended. They had done everything together, but so what? She was stronger now, on her own. She didn’t need-

“We could, you know,” Adora whispered.

Now it was Catra who was caught off guard.

“Could what?” she asked, eyes narrowing.

“Work out,” Adora said. “Together. Just like old times. Just for tonight.”

“I just got clean,” Catra chuckled. Adora finally turned around, and a smile spread across her face. Catra’s pulse quickened.

“Then spot me.”

“Fine, but make it quick.”

“You know I won’t,” Adora said. Catra rolled her eyes and twitched her tail, but couldn’t resist the smile tugging at her lips.

Adora walked to the center of the room and started stretching. Catra’s eyes traced the lines of her body, and there was something different there. More muscle, certainly, but something else too, something less tangible. It wasn’t confidence, but it was something similar that Catra couldn’t quite identify.

“Are you just going to stare or...?” Adora asked, snapping Catra out of her thoughts. Adora was blushing again, but so was Catra now.

“Right,” she said, and began to stand up. The towel pulled loose and she was forced to clutch at it to keep herself covered. She wrapped it back around herself and walked over to join Adora.

“Push-ups first,” Adora said, dropping instantly into position. Catra knelt down beside her, watching her pump out push-ups. Was she going faster than she had the last few nights? It seemed like it. Catra found herself watching the muscles in Adora’s upper arms and shoulders as they rippled. Adora had perfect form, as always, but nevertheless Catra slowly raised a hand and placed it on the small of Adora’s back.

“Straighten out,” she whispered. Adora’s pace slowed for a moment, and she smiled, then sped back up. Catra left her hand where it was. She couldn’t have Adora’s form getting sloppy, after all.

Next came sit-ups. Adora shifted into position and Catra knelt with her knees on Adora’s feet. Catra didn’t have much to do other than watch as Adora rose and fell, but that was okay; Adora always looked good when she was working out. Her face was a little red from exertion, a few drops of sweat were running down her face, her hair was getting just a bit messy-

Adora sat up, and Catra grabbed her by the ponytail and pulled her into a kiss. Adora tensed up for just a fraction of a second before relaxing. Never breaking contact, Catra pushed her way between Adora’s knees, moved over her, and ended up laying on top of her as they both relaxed to the floor. When Catra finally pulled away they were both breathing heavily.

“Catra, I don’t-” Adora began.

“Adora?” Catra said.

“Huh?”

“Shut up.”

Catra pulled Adora into a kiss once more, but gentler this time. Then she rose to her feet, helped Adora up, and promptly shoved her into the pile of pillows and blankets. As Adora lay there, staring, Catra let the towel fall away.


	5. A Satisfying Arrangement

“Like what you see?” Catra purred.

Adora nodded.

Catra stalked over to her, swaying her hips. She leaned down, bringing her lips close to Adora’s ear. Catra let out a gentle breath, causing Adora to tense up slightly.

“Good,” Catra whispered. “Because that’s all you’re getting for now.” She grasped one of the blankets and wrapped it around herself as she rose back up.

“Wait!” Adora blurted. Catra’s tail twitched, but she managed to keep her expression neutral.

“You’re seriously just going to leave it at that?” Adora asked.

“Relax, princess,” Catra said. “It’s not like we won’t see each other again.”

Adora slumped back in the pillows, put one over her face, and let out a frustrated groan.

“Besides,” Catra continued, “I’m not here for  _ you _ .” Even before the words left her mouth, Catra couldn’t think of a good reason to say them, but she did it anyway.

“Then what are you here for?” Adora asked, her voice still muffled by the pillow.

There was nothing for it now, she had already given too much away. And did it really matter if Adora knew? It could even be… fun. A game. Yeah. Who said they had to be enemies all the time? She could make the climb again and again, just for this.

“I’m here for the sword,” Catra said. Adora sat up, suddenly alert.

“You know I can’t let you-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Catra said with a wave of her hand. “So here’s how this is going to work: I’m going to keep coming here every night until I find it, right? Which means if I never find it…” She gestured towards Adora with one hand.

“I… get to see you every night?” Adora finished.

“Exactly,” Catra purred, leaning down to cup Adora’s chin in her hand. “So you make sure to hide the sword before I get here, and we get to keep having… fun.”

Catra walked over to where her clothes were hanging up, almost dry, and let the blanket fall to the floor. She could feel Adora’s eyes on her as she dressed, but didn’t look back. Ignoring her was almost as fun as everything else they had done. Besides, she was having enough trouble not trembling with excitement herself without seeing Adora staring at her again.

Once she was dressed, Catra sauntered over to the window and pushed it open. She climbed up and sat for a moment on the sill before looking back, winking at Adora, and dropping out into the night. Her claws scraped on the stone as she used them to slow her descent.

Yeah, this was going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may write an alternate ending/extension at some point that gets more explicit, but for now what you see is what you get.


End file.
